


Shimamura Uzuki did her best.

by tadaaaimaaa



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: Angst, Anime: The iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls, Graphic Description, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Multi, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:33:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23653144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tadaaaimaaa/pseuds/tadaaaimaaa
Summary: 346Pro's Christmas Concert is well underway. Everything is going fine, and now is Uzuki's turn to shine, and prove to herself and the world that she can be an Idol...An alternate ending to Cinderella Girls' Season 2 Finale.
Relationships: Producer/Shimamura Uzuki





	1. Finale

“Shimamura Uzuki will do her best!”

These were Uzuki's last words to the audience.  
The lights flickered, and then shone upon her, granting her the spotlight. “S(mile)ING!” came on.  
Now all she needed to do was to sing her song with all her heart, and prove she could be an Idol that brings joy to everyone.  
But right as she had to begin, she froze in place. Her voice just wouldn’t come out.  
Uzuki looked at the crowd, all eyes were on her. She knew that everything, her job, her friends… her dreams, were on the line.  
“A… ak...”  
The music kept going, leaving Uzuki behind, alone. Sometimes, dreams end as dreams.

Rin and Mio, on backstage, were watching everything unfold. Hearing the music continue without Uzuki singing was like torture to them.  
“Uzuki-chan...”  
“Shimamuu... no...!”  
Mio gripped Rin’s arm, and started crying uncontrollably. In her mind, she knew what would happen.  
“Dammit, Uzuki... It wasn’t supposed to end like this…”  
Rin couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, and joined Mio.

The producer was watching, too. He believed in her, and wouldn’t give up.  
“Come on, Uzuki-san. You can do this...”  
Suddenly, he felt a familiar presence beside him. It was Chihiro. She pulled on his suit.  
“At this rate, Uzuki-chan will fail! Can’t we do anything?!”  
The producer then finally faced reality. He knew the fate awaiting her Idol too well, from his experience. He just didn’t want to stop believing in her.  
“There’s nothing we can do, Chihiro-san.”  
Chihiro hugged the producer, and started crying. Producer kept looking, in a stoic stare.  
On the inside however, he was devastated.  
“Shimamura-san…”

On the venue’s back, Executive Producer Mishiro and Director Imanishi were also witnesses to Uzuki’s performance.  
“It seems I may have been mistaken after all, Mishiro.”  
“It’s what I expected. With this pitiful display, she’s leaving me no other choice but to terminate her as an idol. She’s also putting the project in jeopardy, and making other Idols skip lessons.”  
“I thought you believed in her, deep down.”

There was a moment of silence between them. Mishiro responded.  
“I’m disappointed.”

They kept looking at her struggle in complete silence, and then she added:

“I’ll be going back to the office. I can’t watch this any longer.”  
“Of course. Have a safe trip, Mishiro.”  
Mishiro left, annoyed.

Uzuki’s friends couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They knew Uzuki had practiced out of her mind. She knew the song, the steps. Every rehearsal was serious, and she never slacked off. They knew she wanted to continue being an idol more than anyone else. And yet, she was failing.  
“Uzuki-chan…” said Minami, in a sad tone. She covered her mouth, and quietly cried. All the girls quickly followed suit.

“She’s going to be laid-off.” Said Anzu, suddenly. Kirari quickly replied, and for once, she was angry.  
“A-Anzu! Don’t say that! She can still…!“  
Anzu turned around to face her. She was crying, too.  
“It’s over…”  
The finality of her words made everyone realize just how serious the situation was.

Back on stage, Uzuki couldn’t handle it anymore. She started tearing up, and quickly ran off the stage.

The entire audience was silent, most of them shocked. Her fans were in disbelief; and idol running away like that only means one thing. Soon, the venue was silent, save for the song, which then was quickly silenced. In no time, A PA announcer came on.

“ _Dear customers, we apologize for the inconvenience…_ ”

Uzuki ran past the producer. “Shimamura-san, wait!”, he yelled, but she didn’t stop.  
She didn’t want to talk to anyone, much less her producer, who was always cheering her on, always supporting her, always encouraging her not to give up. The same producer, who she had let down so greatly. How could she look at him in the eyes now?  
Uzuki just wanted to run from there, far away.

Her worst nightmares were now reality.

Uzuki arrived home, went to her room and cried under her blankets. She cried so much, her eyes were red. Her dream was dead.

She knew full well what was coming. New Generations would be disbanded, or she would be replaced.  
Her contract with 346Pro would be terminated, and she’d never be the idol she wished to be.  
The nerves and sadness of being aware of her fate started to consume her. She didn’t want it to end this way, but there was nothing she could do.

She had failed.

“Doing my best was never going to be enough.” Was the last thing Uzuki thought of before crying herself to sleep.


	2. I'll go with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Christmas Concert disaster, Uzuki is depressed. Where will this road take her?

A new day had arrived.

The sun's rays were shining on Uzuki's face through her half-open curtains, and reluctantly, she opened her eyes.   
Yesterday's memories were fresh, but for a moment, she thought to herself, "maybe it was just a bad dream."

She took her phone. There were 108 new RINE messages, from her producer and all her friends. She started reading them, and as she did, she realized all that happened was painfully real. Rin, Mio and the Producer in particular, seemed extremely worried. But she didn't feel like responding to any of it.

"Why aren't you responding my messages? Uzuki, this isn't like you at all. Please, don't do anything stupid. I'm begging you. Can we talk? Do you want me to go over?"

"shimamuu, I need to talk to you urgently. please reply asap, im worried"

"Shimamura-san. I need you to talk to me. I'm extremely concerned about your condition, and I've also been trying to contact you by other means to no avail. Everyone at the agency is worried about you, too. If you desire to talk, please call me at whatever time is comfortable for you. I'll listen to everything you have to say."

While reading these messages, Uzuki couldn't help but start tearing up. "I let everyone down... I'm such garbage..."  
She didn't even want to get out of bed. With an empty and sad look, she just stared at the ceiling, thinking nothing.  
After a while, she stood up, and left her room.

Back at 346's offices, Producer met with Mishiro. It was tense from the get-go.

"Producer-san. I believe you know the reason I summoned you here, correct?"  
"Yes."  
"Shimamura Uzuki is out of the agency, effective immediately. Her unit, New Generations, is also disbanded."  
"Mishiro-san. I know Ms. Shimamura has had problems, but she's a pivotal part of the Cinderella Project. You can't-"  
"I can't what? I told you to cut her off. Her performance, if you can call it that, was abysmal, she is out. She is unfit for the role, and is only wasting our time and money."  
"I am NOT cutting her off, Mishiro-san."  
"You're in no position to dictate anything. I'll proceed as I planned."  
"Mishiro-san, please reconsid-"  
"This meeting is over. Get out."

Ultimately, Producer could do nothing about it. He bowed, and turned to leave. While he walked, he wondered how to break the news to everyone. Most of them could figure out that Uzuki was out of the company; it was only a formality at this point. Producer reached for the handle, but at that moment, the door opened, and Rin came in along with Mio.

"If you're letting Uzuki go, then I'm quitting."  
"Yeah! What Shiburin said!"

Producer was shocked. He could only manage to say one thing.   
"Girls..."

Mishiro wasn't happy. But her stoicism was remarkable.  
"Honda and Shibuya, you should know better than to grovel over someone as inept as Shimamura." 

Rin was pissed off at this remark, and lashed out as a result.  
"Uzuki isn't inept! She's my precious friend and the reason I came to this industry in the first place! How dare you!"  
"Yeah, Shimamuu doesn't deserve this after all she's been through! You know nothing about her!"

Mishiro had enough; her time was being wasted, and she had no desire to continue with this foolishness.   
She stood up, and looked at them both in contempt.   
"All I know is that Shimamura is dead weight. But if you value her so much, then maybe you should share her fate. You're both out."

Producer immediately raised his voice.  
"Mishiro-san! Let them out of this!"

By this point, Mishiro was genuinely enraged.  
"Do you realize the position I occupy within this company? My orders will not be questioned, and I've had enough of you. You are no longer a Producer for this company."  
"Get out of my sight."

Rin and Mio, pissed off to a point they had never been, moved to punch her in the face, but the Producer stopped them. Mishiro didn't move a muscle in the whole ordeal.  
"Honda-san, Shibuya-san, it's not worth it. Let us get out of here."  
They obeyed him reluctantly. Once they were out, Producer slammed the door shut.  
"What an _asshole_..." he said, quietly. But the girls had heard him clearly.  
"Asshole..."  
"Asshole..."  
It was the first time, they had heard Producer say something so out of character. Rin and Mio started laughing, and soon enough, Producer couldn't help but laugh. They walked away, laughing.

Once they were out, Mishiro was left alone in the room. She grabbed her phone, and called someone.

"Hello. I'm calling you to inform you of the removal of Shimamura Uzuki, Shibuya Rin, Honda Mio and that insubordinate Producer from all the company's records and future projects; they no longer work here. All their products are to be destroyed and removed from sale, immediately."  
The voice on the other end hesitated for a bit, and then replied.  
" _Mishiro-san... that's a lot of people you're leaving in the street. Are you sure about this?_ "  
"Of course."

The man on the other side sighed audibly. _"For the love of... Mishiro-san. I can understand you laying off Shimamura-chan, but what about the rest? Once the magazines get a hold of this information, you know that they'll make stuff up about you and the company, right?"_  
"Honda and Shibuya threatened me with violence, the other one was simply insubordinated. As for the magazines and possible gossip, I don't care about that in the slightest."  
_"Violence? that's serious. Will you press charges?"_  
"No. And keep that confidential."  
_"Fine. I'll do as you say. Is that all?"  
_"No. I want all of them blacklisted from the industry."

Once more, the voice on the other end stayed silent for a moment. And once again, replied.  
" _That's... Mishiro-san, isn't that going too far? you'll ruin their chanc-_ "  
"Do it."  
_"Geez... fine. I sure hope you know what you're doing."  
_"I know. I'll call you later."  
_"Bye."_

Mishiro hung up, and the call ended. She then stood up, walked a bit towards the window, and looked outside.  
"..."

What followed next was the three of them breaking the news of their departure to everyone else.  
Most of them wanted to quit right then and there when they heard how horribly Mishiro had treated them, but Producer told them to not do it. They had established careers already; it wasn't worth it. Rin and Mio tried to reassure everyone that they could survive.  
"I'll be fine. I used to work at a flower shop, you know?"  
"Yeah, and my acting is top-notch!"

Rika interjected. She was only a kid, but she was perceptive. She felt they were forgetting someone important.  
"...what about Uzuki-san...?"

Mio and Rin went silent. Everyone went silent.  
"Ah..."

Right as the air was getting dense, Mika broke the silence and reprimanded them.  
"What you did was reckless. I know you care for Uzuki-chan a lot, but this is your career, your future we're talking about. I've seen friends come and go countless times, and I also wanted to quit a few of those times. But..."  
  
She stopped for a moment, and realized that what she was saying wasn't going to give them their jobs back.  
"...Well, there's nothing you can do now. I hope you don't regret it."  
Mio and Rin listened to her with full attention; she was the most experienced, after all.  
Everyone else, save for the Producer, who was looking at his phone, looked down and thought about the responsibility they had.

There was a brief moment of silence again, and then Mika again cut it short.  
"Producer."

The producer was caught off-guard, as he was thinking about Uzuki. He had checked, and she still hadn't responded any of the messages.  
"...Jougasaki-san?"

"Are you okay? You don't look good."  
"Please don't worry about me. I'm simply concerned for Shimamura-san, she hasn't responded to any of my messages."  
"I was just going to ask you about that. She didn't respond to me either and I sent her a lot."  
Minami and Ranko then talked.  
"Me neither."  
"I messaged Uzuki-san in the dead of night, but I assumed she was tired, so I didn't insist..."  
Chieri also shared her experience.  
"S-She also ignored my messages... but I thought that after the concert, it was better to leave her alone..."  
Everyone else said the same. Uzuki hadn't responded to anyone.

When the realization that Uzuki hadn't responded to anyone set in, a weird air started to spread around the room. A feeling that there was something seriously wrong. Uzuki was never like this... ever. She always responded, even at unreasonable hours. It was so unlike her, that some started to fear something else... something bad was going on. Anzu was one of them.  
  
She almost didn't want to talk; her being correct about Uzuki being laid-off made her feel sick. What if her hunch was right again?  
"P-Pro... Producer..."

Her living a solitary and reclusive life before being an idol, had given her experience. She knew full well how a failure of this size could bring someone down... what it could do to their mind. _"Uzuki-chan isn't the strongest."_ she thought.  
Coincidentally, not even a week ago, Uzuki had, in a rare moment, talked at length with her about everything. She told her that around this time, she'd be home alone for two months, due to her parents' business trips. Anzu started to panic in silence.  
_"That's two months alone. If no one does anything quick, Uzuki-chan could seriously consider that. She might have already..."  
_As the mental image of Uzuki doing something unspeakable came to mind, Producer's voice made her return to earth.  
  
"Futaba-san?" the Producer replied.  
  
Anzu wasted no time. She was almost crying, her voice trembling.  
"I... I think we should go check on Uzuki-chan. Like, right now. All of us."  
  
Chihiro, who was listening this whole time, quickly picked up on what Anzu was saying, and as she did, the color drained from her face. She let out a gasp and put her hand on her chest, her heart now beating seriously fast. She wasn't the closest to Uzuki, but she was an integral part of the team, and she got along really well with her. She also remembered all those times that Uzuki had helped her with her job in her spare time, wanting nothing in return. The realization of what may have happened to such a selfless and kind soul, hit her like a truck at full speed.  
"No...! Producer, everyone! Leave! I'll handle it!"

They all quickly picked up on what was going on. They didn't even need to say it. All save for the younger idols. Everyone got moving, and Chihiro, using all her speed and skills, started posponing the Idols' work, apologizing when necessary. She hated not being able to go right away, but what was going on was way bigger than her, than any job, than any agency or company.  
_"Uzuki-chan.... please...!"_

Rika was confused, and somewhat scared.  
"W-What's going on..? asked Rika to her sister.  
  
Mika was a nervous wreck at this point, because the possibility Anzu was suggesting had never occured to her; but everything pointed to it. It was true that Uzuki was behaving really out of character to the point of bothering her. She calmed down to explain, to keep Rika and Miria from possibly seeing something they really shouldn't at their age... at any point of their _lives_ , even.  
"Rika. Uzuki-chan may be in trouble. I'll go check up on her with everyone, you need to stay here with Miria."  
"Did something bad happen...?" asked Miria.   
  
Mika hesitated.  
"...I hope to God not, Miria-chan."  
Mika then, stood up, and quickly ran out the office, not before yelling at Chihiro.  
"Thanks, Chihiro!" She gave her a thumbs up.  
Chihiro gave her a thumbs up in return, and continued on the phone.  
_"Yes, I'm aware she had a meeting today, but unfortunately..."_  
  
They all hired cabs, and asked their drivers to go as quickly as possible. Producer was on the first one, along with Mio, Rin and Anzu. He was on the verge of collapsing due to stress. All he thought about was Uzuki.

_"Shimamura-san... please, I want to see you well. I don't want your smile to go out like this."_

The cab driver, unaware of what was going on, looked at their faces: pale, worried, one of them even crying. And then he spoke.  
"Don't tell my company I'm going over the speed limit."


	3. If I give up, it's all over.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything will be just fine is a lie that we all tell ourselves to feel better.

Uzuki went out her room and walked around her empty house with no destination, until she decided to go to her front garden for a bit, to breathe some fresh air. Her expression indicated nothing but emptiness, as if her very soul had been ripped from her body.  
The wasn’t a single trace of the old, happy and optimistic Uzuki in her anymore.

"..."

She sat, and looked at the flowers, trees and grass with nothing in mind. After a while, she lowered her head and simply looked down, crossing her arms.  
The memories of what had happened just wouldn’t leave her alone. That horrible feeling of loneliness while she was on stage was still with her, and it was even worse now. It was almost impossible for her to start crying again… and she started thinking how quickly her life had changed for the worse, all of it her own fault. Maybe being an Idol just wasn’t for her, no matter how hard she tried, and now she was certain that there wouldn't - there _couldn't_ be a second chance after her performance. Luck wasn't always on her side, and keeping her job required more than she had.

While these thoughts went by her head, she felt a buzzing on her pocket; her phone was ringing.  
She went inside, closed the door, and took her phone out. The screen indicated an incoming call from a private number.  
She hesitated at first, but picked up.

"...Hello?"  
_"Good evening. Is this Shimamura-san speaking?”_

The voice on the phone was that of Director Imanishi. Uzuki started to feel like her stomach was sinking.

"Yes, that’s me, Director."  
_"... I hate being the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid your employment with the company has been terminated.”_

Uzuki’s heart started racing. It was all happening just as she expected.  
  
_“I think you already know the reasons, but would you like me to explain further?”  
_"...No."  
_"Then, please come collect your belongings as soon as possible. I’ll handle all the paperwork for you, but you’ll still have to come and sign some of it tomorrow."  
_“Yes… thank you, Director.”  
_“…I’m really sorry, Shimamura-san. Had it been up to me, I wouldn’t have done this.”  
_“…It’s okay. It’s all my fault.”  
_“We all make mistakes at some point. And besides, you’re not the only one going through this.”_

_“…What?”_ Uzuki thought.

“What do you mean…?” _  
“Oh, right... I guess they haven’t told you yet, then... Well, I probably shouldn’t say this, employee privacy and all, but I think you’ll find out soon enough anyway. The Producer, Honda-san and Shibuya-san have all been let go, too. From what I gathered, they got into a fight with Mishiro-san while trying to make her reverse her decision of firing you, and things started escalating. Still, Mishiro-san may have gone too far…”_

Her heart sunk, and she got a chill down her spine. It was one thing for her to get fired, but Mio, Rin and the Producer too? And they got fired because they were _defending_ _her_?

“…What?! Director, are you serious?!”  
_“Please calm down, Shimamura-san. I know you might be worried, but defending you was their decision… please respect their wishes, too. Surely they had their reasons to go that far.”_

_“But that’s not fair to them…!”_ was the only thought in her head, but she was so shocked at this new information that she couldn’t articulate properly anymore. She on the verge of tears.

“…D-Director! That’s-!”

Suddenly, a notification sound resonated on the other end and cut her short.  
_“…Oh, the meeting will start soon. I’m afraid I have to go... I sincerely hope you do well in any future endeavours.”  
“Good luck, Shimamura-san.”  
  
“_Director!”  
_  
_ It was no use. The Director had already hanged up. Uzuki dropped to the floor, put her hands on her head, and started crying and screaming.  
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”  
“Why them?! Why?! It’s not fair! They shouldn’t… why did they do that?! I’m not worth it!”  
“Producer, Mio, Rin…! Why?! God… What have I done?!” 

At that moment, her head started to flood with thoughts.

  
I did nothing.  
That’s why this is happening. I’m useless.  
My worthlessness brought them down.  
Why am I even alive? I’m a waste of space.  
They must be so angry at me.  
They’ll never talk to me anymore.  
I ruined their careers.  
I should just disappear.

Uzuki remained silent, and she left her phone on the floor.

  
“…”  
  


She then stood up, and went to the storage room, on the back of the house. There was something there, a single thing, that could help her atone for her sins.

She went through the things that were stored, and finally found it. A rope she used to exercise with. It was made out of nylon, and had a decent width and length. She then made a hangman’s noose, which she always remembered because of how reliable it was to hang stuff, and made sure it worked properly. She looked at it.  
_“Rin… Producer.. Mio… It’s all my fault, isn't it?”  
_  
Uzuki closed the door to the old storage room, and tied up the other end of the rope to an exposed beam on the ceiling, about 3 meters up, using a foldable ladder. She climbed on, and put her head through the noose, facing the door. She did some quick calculations; If she went through with it, she’d hang about ½ meter from the floor.  
Her breathing started to get faster. She was nervous, her heart was now beating even faster than before.  
  
At that moment, she started to think. If she kicked right now, all of it would end, and she’d atone for all the damage she had done, all the trouble she had caused. But she was still scared...  
_“Why am I scared?! I’m so selfish… I’ve let my fans down… I made three people lose their jobs…”  
_  
She got angry.  
_“I should just…!”_  
  
And then… she kicked.  
The force of the fall didn’t break her neck instantly like she thought, so she started suffocating instead. She struggled, purely by instinct.  
Crying and scared, she tried to get out of there by clawing at her noose, to no avail. She broke her nails in the process, and was now bleeding. No one would help her, she’d die alone.  
_“I’m going… to die…”  
“I’m… sorry...”_

It was at this point, that Producer, Mio, Rin and Anzu had arrived outside. Producer told the driver to wait, and they left the cab in a hurry, going past the exterior wooden gate, which was unlocked. The door, however, wasn’t. Producer knocked.

  
“Shimamura-san! Open the door!”  
No response.  
  
“Kick it down.”  
“Shibuya-san, that’s…”  
“Just do it!”  
Producer doubted for a second, but complied.  
“Fine. Stay back!”

Meanwhile, Uzuki’s field of vision was blurring and getting smaller. She felt like her neck was being crushed.  
It was then she heard the door to her house open violently, and some familiar voices started screaming.

“Shimamura-san?! Where are you?!”  
“Uzuki! Answer me, dammit!”  
“Shimamuu! I won’t forgive you if you do something stupid, you hear me?!”  
“Hey, her phone’s here!”  
  
But she couldn’t respond. She could barely think, and was asphyxiating quickly.  
_“I’m here…”  
“Please… help me…”  
“I don’t… want to die, after all…”_

_A minute had passed since she kicked.  
  
_Rin, Mio, Anzu and the Producer, checked the house in a rush. Producer had kicked the door down, but the police could wait. All he wanted was to find Uzuki. They split up to check the house quickly, without saying a word.  
  
Mio checked the living room and kitchen. Nothing.   
The Producer checked the second floor, and he arrived at Uzuki’s room; her bed was unkept, suggesting she had been there recently. “She’s out. She went out… That must be it.”  
Anzu checked the bathroom, and other rooms on the lower floor. No sign of her.  
Rin ran to the back of the house. One by one, she opened the doors, as fast as she could.

_A minute and a half had passed since she kicked.  
_  
And then  
She saw.  
Rin was frozen solid, her eyes went wide. Time seemed to be stopped. Her beloved friend was hanging, on the verge of death. But she was still alive.  
  
With whatever little strength she had left, Uzuki looked at Rin, and extended her hand, asking for help.

“UZUKI!” Rin shouted.

Snapping out of it, she immediately ran to help her, grabbing the foldable ladder. Uzuki was involuntarily kicking at this point, making it hard to help her. But Rin managed to put it in position, now she needed for her to stay still and regain her footing.  
  
Rin’s scream alerted the rest. Mio arrived first, right as Rin was putting the ladder.  
“Rin! What ha…?!”  
A moment after she saw Uzuki hanging, her legs gave way. She started to tremble, and terror was clear on her face. She had never seen anything like this.  
  
Anzu was the next one to arrive. She expected the worst, but it’s one thing to expect something and actually seeing it. She went past Mio, and looked at Uzuki.  
_“Shit! She actually was doing it, I hate being right! How long has she been up there?!”  
_“Shibuya! We don’t have much time!”  
“I-I know! Uzuki, keep s-“  
Uzuki convulsed, and threw Rin off-balance, the ladder again coming down. She wasn’t in control of her body, and her ears were ringing. She was beginning to see bright flashes of light.  
“Dammit…!” said Rin, trying to get up quickly.

_Two minutes had passed since she kicked._  
_  
_ Anzu couldn’t do much due to her height, all she could do was try. She helped Rin to get up.  
As she did that, she noticed Uzuki wasn’t moving much anymore, her arms now hanging freely. _  
_ “Hey, Honda!! Don’t just stay there like an idiot and help us or she’ll seriously die!!”  
  
Mio was in shock; her limbs didn’t respond, and she wasn’t paying attention to anything else except for Uzuki’s struggle to remain in this world. _“Shimamuu wanted to suicide?!”_ was all she was thinking about. She didn’t really take Anzu all that seriously back then. But she did now.  
  
“HONDA! SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY!”  
Finally, Mio reacted.  
“U-Uzuki!”  
  
Producer jumped the down the stairs’ railway to gain time, and arrived right as Mio was standing to help her. He assumed the worst from the get go, and hurried past Honda.  
“How’s Shimamura-san?!”  
It only took him a quick look to realize what to do. He immediately grabbed Uzuki by her armpits and lifted her up, easing the tension on her neck. He wasn’t particularly fond of his height, but it came like a blessing this time. The problem was that he wouldn’t be able to hold so much dead weight for too much time. To top it off, if he took too long to get her out of there, she’d die.  
  
_“This is bad… If I let her go now, I’ll kill her!”_

_Two minutes and twenty seconds had passed since she kicked._  
  
Uzuki wasn’t moving, but then gasped for air, barely conscious. Her eyes weren’t focused, but her breathing came as a relief to Anzu.  
  
“She’s breathing!”  
“Shibuya-san, the ladder!” Producer said in a deeply nervous voice.  
“Yes!”  
  
Rin then placed the ladder. It was just enough for Uzuki to step, but she was so weak, that letting her go was going to finish her off if they weren’t careful.  
  
“Shibuya-san! Get that noose out of her neck, now! Futaba-san, go tell the driver to get ready!”  
“Y-Yes!” said both of them.  
Rin climbed and did as was told, finally freeing Uzuki, but she was now nearly unconscious and unresposive. She had marks and blood around her neck. Her nails were also bloody, some of them broken, some of them entirely removed while she was struggling.  
  


Anzu ran as fast as she could, and on her way out she saw that the rest of the girls had already arrived, along with a small crowd on the back. A policeman was also outside, she assumed it was because a neighbor had called thinking it was a robbery.  
The rest of the girls had informed police of what was going on, however. He had called an ambulance just in case, but it was stuck in traffic. Either way, this last bit of information was unknown to Anzu. She just knew she had to move quick.  
  
“Anzu-chan! What’s going on?!” said Mika.  
  
But Anzu just kept running.  
The rest of the girls felt uneasy seeing Anzu running so fast; she’d never been this agile for anything back at the agency.  
  
“Hey driver! get ready, we’re going to the hospital!”  
“I’ll take you to the nearest one as fast as I can. Watch for the doors.”  
The doors opened automatically, and Anzu boarded the taxi. The driver then checked the GPS.  
_“Destination set”_ Said the GPS voice.  
  
“H-hospital…!?” Said Riina.  
Miku, thinking ahead, thought the worst possible scenario.  
“Wait, that means…!”  
  
Right as she was saying it, Producer came out running, carrying Uzuki.  
Everyone then could see that she was limp, her eyes dead, her neck with marks and blood all over. This was so shocking, that it made Anastasia, Minami and Kanako think that she was already dead. Chieri and Ranko looked away. Kirari and Mika felt sick.  
  
Not letting a single second go to waste, Producer then carefully and quickly put her on the taxi, boarded, and shut the doors.  
“Go! Now!”  
And with those words, The taxi took off.  
  
Mika ran inside. She could hear the voices of Rin and Mio in the back.  
“Girls! Are you all…”  
Stopping in her tracks, Mika witnessed the scene before her; it seemed like something off of a horror movie. A bloody noose, hanging with a ladder underneath on the center of the room.  
Mio and Rin were hugging. Mio was extremely distressed and kept repeating she had done nothing to help, both were crying.  
  
Mika looked at Rin.  
“Rin…”  
  
Rin looked at her while consoling Mio.  
“Uzuki… Uzuki might die, Mika.”  
  
It was inevitable for Mika to remember their first concert together, with these three girls as backup dancers.  
It was also inevitable for her to start crying.


End file.
